ICYMI: Here are the top five things that happened in the Big West over winter break….In Case You Missed It!

1. Coaches Tab Long Beach State To Repeat As Men’s Volleyball Champion
Reigning Big West and NCAA men’s volleyball champion Long Beach State is the favorite to win a second straight conference title, according to the annual coaches preseason poll released Friday. The Beach, which recently garnered the No. 1 preseason ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, was a unanimous choice to win the 2019 Big West championship with all six first-place votes and 36 points. Full Story

2. Cal Poly Hires Caroline Walters as Women’s Volleyball Head Coach
Caroline Walters, interim head coach at Cal Poly seven years ago and associate head coach the last two seasons, has been named head coach of the Cal Poly women’s volleyball program. Full Story

3. Bertsch Reaches Another Milestone In Big West Win
Senior Morgan Bertsch became the eighth player in the history of the Big West Conference to reach 2,000 career points, finishing with a game-high 31 points to help lift UC Davis to a 67-59 victory over host UC Riverside on Saturday afternoon in front of an ESPN3 audience at the SRC Arena. Full Story

class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">

Not much better of a night than after notching your 2,000th career point.

4. UC Irvine And UC Santa Barbara Off To Strong Starts In Men’s Basketball
UC Irvine heads into Big West play sporting a 12-4 record to tie the school record for most nonconference wins which was originally set by the 1981-82 team. Full Story

The Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara conclude the nonconference portion of their schedule with an 11-3 record, marking the second straight year they opened the season with that mark. Full Story

5. Legacy, Long Beach State (Episode One)
The Big West Conference follows defending national champion, Long Beach State men’s volleyball, through the first practice of the 2019 season. Olivia Phelps sits down with senior middle blocker Nick Amado to discuss the upcoming season as the Beach sets out to defend its NCAA championship. Video